Scarlett Johansson: Altman could be a Marvel villain

Actress Scarlett Johansson thinks Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, could be a villain with a robotic arm in the Marvel universe.

Johansson joked after speaking about her dispute with Altman in the New York Times .

OpenAI released GPT-4o in mid-May with a variety of voice options. According to Business Insider , the model drew Johansson's ire after many social media users pointed out that the voice of the virtual assistant Sky sounded similar to the AI ​​chatbot the actor voiced in the 2013 film Her .

"When I heard the demo, I was shocked, angry, and couldn't believe that Altman would create a voice that sounded exactly like mine, to the point where close friends and the press couldn't tell the difference," Johansson told CNN in late May.

She said she turned down Altman’s offer to voice the AI ​​model in September 2023. The OpenAI CEO reached out to her again through a representative on May 13, two days before GPT-4o was released.

“The system launched before we could connect,” she said.

Sam Altman at the WEF conference in Davos in January. Photo: Reuters

Johansson has authorized a lawyer to handle the dispute with OpenAI and expressed concern: "In an era when people are struggling with deepfakes and protecting their image, work and identity, I believe these are questions that deserve clarification. I look forward to receiving a transparent solution to ensure that individual rights are protected under the law."

On May 19, OpenAI announced that it was halting the release of Sky. "Sky's voice is not Scarlett Johansson's. We had already chosen a voice actor for Sky before we approached Johansson," Altman said.

“I was like, ‘How did I get involved in this? This is crazy. I was so angry,’” Johansson told the New York Times . “I think technology is moving faster than our fragile human egos can handle. You can see the impact everywhere, especially on young people. This technology is coming like a thousand-foot wave,” she said.

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